Baltimore
by Abs7
Summary: A gruesome murder brings NCIS Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs to Baltimore where he meets young detective Anthony DiNozzo, the only person to date who can withstand the infamous Gibbs stare. In order to solve a case they must work together despite their differences. Will this partnership falter or flourish. Slightly AU. No slash.
1. Suspect

Baltimore

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AN: This fic is shaping up to be quite long. At least 20 chapters probably more. Updates will be posted sporadically but at least one chapter a week. More if the response is good.

Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS or any of the characters.

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Ch.1

The nearly hour long drive to Baltimore was not something Leroy Jethro Gibbs enjoyed doing at one in the morning under any circumstances. Add two whining probies in the backseat and a lack of good, strong coffee and it was not hard to see why the already foul tempered Gibbs was in an even worse mood. But this was an unusual situation. Even for Gibbs. And that was certainly saying something. So Gibbs, the probies-Gibbs couldn't be bothered to learn their names-, and Medical Examiner Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard, would give up tonight's sleep, and probably many nights more, to find a killer.

Gibbs and the team had left D.C just under an hour ago so they would be arriving at the crime scene very soon. At this point Gibbs would give anything to get out of the damned car and a decent cup of coffee to start his day. In the back seat the complaining from the probies continued.

"Was it really necessary to leave right away sir!"

Gibbs tries to think of the probies name but comes up blank. Instead he goes with a harsh glare and snaps "Don't call me sir."  
"Sorry _Boss._"

Really Gibbs could do without the attitude but at this earlier in the morning he was choosing to pick his battles carefully and this was not a battle he needed to win. He would've usually jumped at the opportunity to scold the probie but he would have a more important fight on his hands when he had to deal with the Baltimore PD detectives in charge of the case. Local LEOs rarely reacted kindly to losing their crime scene and with tensions already running high Gibbs doubted today would be any different.

* * *

Meanwhile at the crime scene...

Baltimore PD Homicide Detective Paul Bates was struggling to keep down his dinner as he looked at the scene in front of him. He had seen many gruesome things during his career but this one topped them all. Which was impressive considering there was only a single body. The deceased was horribly mutilated, the corners of his lips sliced nearly to his ears giving the impression of a sick, macabre smile. Fingers had been cut off, teeth ripped out, one of the legs appeared to have been sawed off and was lying nearby, a wad of hundred dollar bills were stuffed in the mouth. Cause of death however was a single gunshot to the back of his head, suggesting that the poor man had been tortured before death.

The body had been found chained to a large oak tree by two teens that had been walking through the park- god knows why, considering the hour. Those two teens would probably need counseling until they were forty. A medical examiner had confirmed the time of death to be approximately 11:30 PM. Just a few hours ago. All things considered news had traveled extraordinarily quickly and a crowd had gathered at the scene. Reporters and news vans included. Lights, camera, action, let the press conference begin.

Bates dispatched a few officers to keep back the growing crowd and he and his partner Mason James were working through the crime scene, collecting evidence and taking statements from the pair that had found the body. Another detective watched from afar, reminding himself that this was not his case, therefore not his problem. Even so, Detective Anthony DiNozzo wanted in on the action. He couldn't just walk away from a crime like this. No, there needed to be justice. Bates and James were good detectives, no doubts about that, but they were strictly by the book. Procedure was followed perfectly and while it was effective it was slow. Yes, they would find the killer but it may not be before another person was murdered.

* * *

Team Gibbs and Ducky arrived at the crime scene minutes later, after stopping to get coffee of course. Gibbs immediately sought out the detectives in charge but he didn't have to look long considering they came to him. And they did not look happy, in fact they looked almost homicidal at the moment. It only takes a moment to spot the man in charge, a bit on the short side and leaning towards pudgy the man strongly resembles a bulldog. His partner on the other hand towered over the bulldog, at least six feet tall, lean and muscular. Gibbs had to wonder how the little pudgy man had gotten to be in charge.

The bulldog is the first to speak up. "Who the hell are you?" He asks angrily.

More attitude. Just the thing to put Leroy Jethro 'The second B is for bastard' Gibbs in an even worse mood. He takes out his badge and shows it to the Detective. "Special Agent Gibbs. NCIS."

"What's NCIS have to do with our murder?" Bulldog asks.

"Victim is a Marine. Or hadn't you noticed?" Gibbs questions, wondering how they could have missed that, the damn body was wearing the uniform for god's sake.

"This is our case. Now get the hell away from my crime scene." The bulldog growls, really not helping his case any by changing the subject. All that he actually did was further piss off Gibbs. And that was not a good choice. The bulldog's second bad choice was taking a step into Gibbs personal space. Before Gibbs can over react and likely assault a police officer Ducky stops him, not needing to say a word he shoots Gibbs a disapproving look and shakes his head.

Gibbs sighs and glares at Ducky but doesn't punch the police officer. Instead he simply says "This is my crime scene now. I suggest you let me and my team get to work." And with that Gibbs and the probies start to work on the crime scene. Surprisingly the bulldog doesn't step in, he likely knew that if he continued to argue he would lose the fight anyways and just waste more time when they could be finding a killer.

Before Ducky gets to work on the body he turns to the two Baltimore detectives and says "I do apologize for Agent Gibbs, I'm afraid he doesn't share very well."

Neither of the Detectives looked very pleased by that news but they both hold their tongues and reply with only small nods.

Meanwhile, Gibbs is not having much luck with the probies who both look about ready to vomit all over his crime scene. "Get to work you two." He says unsympathetically and head slaps them both.

Leaving the probies to collect evidence and process the crime scene Gibbs went to talk to the kids who found the body. Much as he expected the kids were too scared and shocked to remember anything of importance or really anything at all. Combine that with what little evidence they had found so far and he had nothing to build a case on yet. That's when Gibbs, being the ever observant ex-marine, spotted someone lingering at the edge of the crime scene. He wasn't with the crowd of gawking bystanders, he didn't look horrified by the crime or even shocked, he watched it all with a clinical eye. From where Gibbs was standing the man looked strong enough to have taken out the marine, maybe the killer had stayed to watch the aftermath. Then the potential killer caught Gibbs' scrutinizing stare.

A small smirk broke out across his face and he looked like he was challenging Gibbs. Then he turned on his heel and started swiftly walking away. As he turned something caught Gibbs' eye; a gun holster riding on his belt. Upon seeing that Gibbs followed after him, drawing his own weapon and taking out his badge as he does so. He started to yell at the man to freeze but as soon as he started to speak the suspect turned around, saw a gun pointed at him and took off running.

With a small sigh Gibbs chases after him, quickly holstering his weapon; really he didn't want or need to shoot the guy.

* * *

It wasn't even his case and now Tony was a suspect. He had just been watching for god's sake and all of the sudden someone was pulling a gun on him, really running away wasn't a good option but then again he wasn't really thinking straight at the moment. So he ran. Unsurprisingly he was faster than his pursuer and it didn't take a whole lot to outrun him but what he hadn't expected was for the person chasing him to be smarter. Instead of following right behind whomever it was that was chasing him had taken a different approach and somehow ended up tackling him as he jogged past an alleyway.

After a few years of playing college football Tony had actually gotten used to being tackled and whoever had just took him to the ground was clearly not as strong as any football player. Tony of course knew that as soon as he had been hit, but the other man had surprise on his side and was able to knock Tony to the ground.

Of course it would happen to him, Tony thought, really it was just his luck, but he wasn't about to go down easy. It takes him a moment to realize but the guy chasing him was the fed from the crime scene, the same guy who had pushed Bates and James off the case. A special agent Gibbs if Tony remembered correctly. Well, all the more reason to start a fight with him Tony thought, and punched the unsuspecting Gibbs square in the jaw. And with that the fight began.

They both got back up rather quickly all things considered but as soon as they were both on their feet punches continued being thrown. It was a pretty even fight, Gibbs was better trained and had more experience but Tony was younger and faster. Gibbs throws a punch at Tony's face, which he blocks with his forearm only to be met with a just as hard hit to the ribs. He didn't fall back or even flinch hardly at all, he just let it hit him and took another swing at Gibbs.

It continued like that for quite some time, trading punches both having the upper hand at one point or another. By the time Gibbs landing a blow to Tony's jaw that dropped him to the ground neither man was in very good shape. Gibbs weak knee had been made a target and was barely holding up, there was a black and blue bruise already forming on his jaw, small cuts and scrapes covered his face and hands, and he was pretty sure he had broken at least one bone in his hand on Tony's face. DiNozzo fared no better, like Gibbs he had an already weakened knee that was made even worse when Gibbs had kicked it hard enough to knock his feet out from under him, he was pretty sure he'd cracked a few ribs, blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth and his face was more black and blue than skin colored.

With Tony know on the ground and in handcuffs Gibbs snaps "You want to tell me who the hell you are?"

Tony smirks, looking exceptionally amused for someone who was covered in bruises and bleeding. He shifts his jacket to the side to reveal a gold badge on his belt, right next to his gun, and with a mischievous glint in his eyes he says "Detective Anthony DiNozzo, Baltimore PD."


	2. Detective?

AN: Hey look another chapter! I'll be trying to make them longer and hopefully better.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything of NCIS.

Ch. 2

"Baltimore PD huh? Then why did you run?" Gibbs asks because despite the fact that Tony had a badge he didn't believe any of it.

"Oh, I don't know maybe because you pointed a freakin' gun at me!" Tony shoots back incredulously.

The kid had a point there Gibbs had to admit but if he would've had a chance to say he was with NCIS then chasing after him and getting in a fight in an alleyway wouldn't have been necessary.

"Alright _Detective_ then what were you doing at the crime scene? It wasn't your case."

"I was out for a walk, saw the area taped off and stopped to see what it was." Tony was clearly being defensive but it was by all means justified considered he was basically being accused of murder. Really Gibbs knew that Tony had nothing to do with the murder but he was just mad that the stupid kid would just like the fight happen without bothering to mention he was a detective.

"I could bring you up on assault charges." Gibbs mutters, but it's pretty obvious that he won't. Although the handcuffs are still on Tony so it could go either way at the moment.  
Gibbs sighs, knowing that this was going nowhere he says "Get up, you're coming with me."

He's immediately met with protests from Tony which he quickly silences with a sharp slap to the back of the head. "And you were going to take _me_ in for assault." He says under his breath.

Tony slowly gets to his feet, clearly trying to keep weight off of his injured limb. Gibbs smiles just a little, if the kid thought it hurt now he'd be in for a nasty surprise in the morning. Gibbs knew full well how bad it would be in the morning and so he was already planning a night of working on his boat and drinking lots of bourbon.

"Back to the crime scene then?" Tony asks.

"Yeah, I'm sure the other detectives will just love to see you."

"You mean Bates? He'd like nothing more than to see me in cuffs."

"Why am I not surprised?" Gibbs was pretty sure Tony was the type to cause all sorts of trouble, he'd known the kid for less than an hour and he was already sick of him.

The walk back to the crime scene is made in an awkward silence after Gibbs head slapped Tony for trying to start up a conversation. The kid really never shut up, but head slapping seemed to do the trick for a few minutes.

When they arrive back at the crime scene Gibbs is met by a rather irritating sight; his two probies appeared to have done no work in his absence and were now chatting amiably with the two Baltimore PD Detectives. Before he can confront them and likely head slap them into next week he is stopped by Ducky who actually got something done.

"Jethro time of death is approximately 11:30 PM, cause would be a single gunshot wound to the back of his head, we'll know more when we get him back to autopsy." Ducky says, and then notices Gibbs' injuries. "My god Jethro what did you do to your face?"

"That's really not important Duck." Gibbs says, trying very hard to get back to the case and not linger on what had just happened with Tony.

"I beg to differ Jethro!" Just then Ducky seems to notice Tony who is standing behind Gibbs, still in cuffs but grinning broadly. "And who is this?" He asks, his eyes immediately going to the bruises and blood on Tony's face.

Before Gibbs can answer Tony jumps into the conversation to introduce himself "Detective Anthony DiNozzo, Baltimore PD. I would shake your hand but…" he shrugs his shoulders and makes a face at Gibbs.

"Doctor Donald Mallard, but call me Ducky" he says kindly to Tony then turns to Gibbs and says in a much harsher tone "Why have you handcuffed a detective?"

"He was a suspect…at the time."

"Yes, at the time. Now how about you release his hands and I will tend to both of your wounds."

Gibbs give Ducky one of his infamous glares but takes the handcuffs off Tony nonetheless.

Much to Tony's dismay Ducky had thought it necessary to tend to his wounds as well but as much as he hated doctors he had to admit that Ducky wasn't that bad and at least he didn't ask to many questions, although that may just be because he would get the whole story from Gibbs later. Even if Ducky wasn't that bad Tony was exceptionally impatient throughout the whole ordeal and repeatedly insisted he was fine although that was hardly the truth.

"Anthony you really should go to a hospital, it appears that you have cracked multiple ribs, your nose is broken and you seem to have a slight concussion." Ducky says once he had finished tending to Tony.

"He doesn't have to go to a hospital, neither do I." Tony says stubbornly and shoots a glare at Gibbs. Although painkillers were sounding like a really good thing right about now it was nothing that a couple of beers couldn't handle.

"Jethro should be going to a hospital as well but he is a lost cause when it comes to such matters."

"Duck, I'm fine!" Gibbs protests.

"Your knee says otherwise! You can hardly walk!"

"Neither can DiNozzo!"

At this point Tony was just glad to have avoided the other detectives while he was in handcuffs so he was more than happy to listen to Ducky and Gibbs argue about who would be going to a hospital tonight. Tony could see that Gibbs was every bit as stubborn as he was and so it was shaping out to be a pretty long argument that Tony ended up tuning out for the most part until he hears his name once again.

"Jethro you cracked Anthony's rib!"

"Well he hit me first Duck what do you want me to do?"  
Ducky sighs and says "Next time try to refrain from breaking bones."

With that the argument seemed to end without any clear winner considering that both parties looked quite unhappy.

As the NCIS team prepared to leave Ducky tries to talk Tony into going to a hospital once again, asking him to just consider it.

"I'm fine Ducky really."

"Well, I'll just have to keep an eye on you. Something tells me this is not the last we'll be seeing each other."

Tony just grins, thinking that if he saw too much more of Gibbs they would really end up in the hospital.


	3. New Assignment

AN: Sorry for ignoring this story for so long, you can be angry at me if you please. Hopefully this next chapter will make up for it.

Also, thank you for all the reviews. They make me smile (:

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing at all.

Ch.3

The next day….

Tony was at work earlier than usual this morning, not getting any work done of course but at least he was there. Which was quite an accomplishment considering he practically had to drag himself out of bed this morning, he could only hope Gibbs would be at least as bad although he doubted the NCIS agent would let it show even if he was.

Really that was the only reason he made an effort to get to work on time today; he wanted to see if Agent Gibbs and the NCIS crew would be sticking around, for the sake of his health he really hoped that they wouldn't be. The only one that he hadn't taken an immediate disliking to was Ducky, although the fact that he was a doctor didn't help matters any. But he had been helpful after all; for an older guy Ducky was pretty quick and had managed to slip a bottle of painkillers into Tony's pocket before he had left. He hadn't noticed until he got home later that night and was actually contemplating going to a hospital. He was glad he didn't have to, the folks at the hospital knew Tony too well already.

Without any real cases to work on Tony had pretty much nothing to do, so he settled with throwing paper balls across the office at one of his coworkers, he was three for three when the door to his bosses office opened and much to his surprise Gibbs walked out with a triumphant grin. Tony noted that Gibbs wasn't limping at all, despite the fact he could hardly walk the night before, in fact the only evidence that he had fought with Tony were small cuts on his knuckles. Damn, this guy was good.

His boss followed Gibbs out of the office, looking none too happy. Now, Tony's boss almost always got what he wanted, usually because he was intimidating, but evidently that hadn't bothered Gibbs because it was clear that whatever they had been arguing about the boss lost.

"DiNozzo! My office, now." His boss shouts.

Tony nods and gets up from his desk slowly, his ribs aching and not really trusting his knee to carry his weight. With Gibbs watching he didn't want to look like he was hurt but the black and blue bruise on his jaw was probably evidence enough. He sighs and tries not to limp noticeably as he walks into his boss's office.

As Tony starts to walk into the office Gibbs turns to leave but much to Tony's surprise his boss calls him back saying something he didn't quite catch but it sounded an awful lot like 'Your problem now.' That was rarely a good thing.

His boss and Gibbs both walk back into the office and his boss motions for him to sit, which was a good thing because he wasn't sure how much longer his knee was going to hold up. Gibbs however remains standing in the corner, which bothers Tony much more than it should.

"DiNozzo you'll be working with Special Agent Gibbs on the murdered marine case. Shared jurisdiction. You'll do what he tells you to and report back to me. Understood?"

"Murdered marine?" Tony says questioningly, really he shouldn't know about the case so it seemed like a good time to put on his best clueless face and feign innocence.

His boss sighs and says "Cut the cute shit. I know you were at the crime scene. Gibbs filled me in."

Tony shoots a glare at Gibbs who hasn't moved since stepping in the office. Gibbs remains impassive however and basically ignores Tony.

"Is that all?" Tony asks, unable to keep the undertone of annoyance out of his voice.

"For now. Play nice with Gibbs, don't want anyone ending up in the hospital."

Tony raises an eyebrow, unsure if his boss new about his fight with Gibbs or if he just expected him to get into trouble. "Got it boss."

Tony walks out of the office trailing a few feet behind Gibbs, once safely away from his boss he asks "So was it your idea to work with me or does my boss really want me to end up in the hospital?"  
"Does it matter DiNozzo?"

"Well, actually"

Gibbs cuts him off "It's not your problem. We've got work to do."

A few minutes later they were heading back to the crime scene at a rather alarming pace.

"Do you always drive like this or are you just trying to kill me?" Tony asks, looking like he might be sick.

He doesn't get an answer but Gibbs does speed up a little.

"Oh, a functional mute I see."

Still no answer.

"Did I do something wrong already?"

This time Gibbs does respond, he slaps Tony on the back of the head and says "Would you please shut up DiNozzo."

Ignoring Gibbs' request Tony mutters "That could be considered assault."

Gibbs laughs and says "No, assault was breaking your ribs."

"Trust me I know it was. I could have you arrested."

"You really want to try that?"

Tony frowns, knowing that he would be losing this argument. "So, will we be seeing more of Ducky today?"  
This gets another grin from Gibbs, "Use up all the painkillers already?"  
Tony's jaw drops and he gives Gibbs and incredulous look. "How the hell did you know about that?"  
"Ducky told me. Said something about wanting to make sure you didn't end up with a hangover today."

Of course. And he had just started to like the doctor.

"Super. And no, I didn't use all the painkillers I just wanted to make sure there would be a witness if you kill me."

Gibbs raises an eyebrow and says "Good thinking."

When the car pulls up at the crime scene Tony jumps out before they are even completely stopped, forgetting for a moment about his injuries from the night before. He puts too much weight on his bad knee and finds himself sitting on the ground, his injuries now fresh in his mind.

Gibbs follows a few seconds after, in a much less painful fashion. "You alright, DiNozzo?"

Tony starts to answer but is cut off.

"Jethro, what have you done to young Anthony this time?"

Tony grins when he hears Ducky's voice. "It wasn't his fault this time Dr. Mallard." He says, because even though he would love to see Gibbs get scolded by Ducky once again he didn't want Gibbs to have another reason to slap him like he did during the car ride here. He gets up as quickly as he can without falling right back down and grins at Ducky.

Ducky starts to say something but is cut off by Gibbs, who seems to be the only one focused on work at the moment.

"What do you have Duck?"

"It would be best if you saw for yourself actually, the body has already been taken back to NCIS but it truly is important."

Gibbs doesn't seem particularly pleased by this response. "It better be good."

"I assure you it will be worth the time, Abigail also has something for you."

Gibbs expression brightened just a bit when Ducky mentioned Abigail. "Fine then. Let's go DiNozzo."

Tony had remained silent for most of the conversation and was left with a lot more questions than answers but the only thing he says is "Can I drive this time?"


	4. We're not in Baltimore Anymore

AN: Sorry I haven't updated in quite some time. Here's a new chapter for you.

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Ch. 4

An hour later they had arrived at NCIS, Tony stumbling out of Gibbs' car just as awkwardly as before. He had not been allowed to drive, not that he really had been expecting to.

"Do you really have to drive like that?" Tony snaps in an irritated tone.

"I don't see anything wrong with it. We got here in less than an hour."

"And I almost died!"

"Keyword is almost."

"Ducky isn't even here yet! Now we'll just have to wait."

"No, I have work to do. You can wait."

As it turns out, Gibbs gets work done much faster when Tony is out of the picture and so he sent the young cop down to Abby's lab with some evidence and ordered him not to come back until he had results. He could only imagine what had happened when Tony had met the young goth.

Tony was not at all happy with being sent down to the lab. Gibbs had given him a pile of evidence and a caf-pow and was told to get results. That sure did help a lot. He didn't really get why the caf-pow was necessary, maybe it was Gibbs' idea of a joke. Brushing it off he enters the lab, only to be nearly deafened by the extremely loud music. Standing at a computer was a young woman with jet black hair, wearing a black mini-skirt, a skull and crossbones t-shirt, boots that went nearly to her knees, and pigtails. The lab rats in Baltimore certainly didn't look like this.

"Gibbs, there is no possible way I could have found something that fast! You'll just have to wait." The girl says.

"Uh, I'm not Gibbs." Tony says, wondering how this girl could have possibly heard him come in over the loud music.

The girl spins around quickly looking confused for a second and then angry. "Who are you?"

"Detective Anthony DiNozzo" he says slowly, "Gibbs sent me down here, told me to give you this." He holds the caf-pow out to her, which she quickly snatches from his hand along with the evidence.

"You're the one who hurt my Gibbs!" she shouts at him, partly because it was the only way she could be heard over the music but also out of anger.

"Me hurt Gibbs?" Tony asks incredulously. Tony was almost certain that he did little to no damage in their little fight yesterday, the only actually damage he could see was the small scrapes on his knuckles but really that wasn't Tony's fault, or at least he didn't think so but this girl seemed oddly protective of Gibbs.

"Yes you! He could barely walk when he came down this morning!"

Tony was about to defend himself when Gibbs himself made an appearance, "I'm fine Abs." he says, sounding none too pleased that any sort of weakness was revealed.

"You're not fine! Ducky said you should have gone to the hospital."

"Ducky says that a lot." Gibbs says, being strangely patient with Abby. Tony had only seen him snappy and grumpy but evidently there was something about this girl that made him nicer. He would have to learn that secret.

Apparently unable to be angry at Gibbs, Abby turns her anger back on Tony. "Well, _Detective _DiNozzo, if you ever hurt Gibbs again just know that I can kill you and leave no forensic evidence!"

Tony then makes the mistake of laughing at what he considered to be a totally ludicrous threat. The young goth crosses her arms and scowls at Tony. "You think I'm joking but you can ask anyone what happened to my last assistant."

Tony shoots a pleading look at Gibbs, who much to his surprise actually takes pity on him.

"Ease up on him Abs, he got his ass kicked."

Well, Tony had thought it was pity but it seemed Gibbs just wanted a chance to further embarrass him.

"Hey! I did not!" Tony protests loudly.

"That bruise says otherwise." Abby says smugly.

"She is quite right Anthony." Ducky says as he walks into the lab.

Great, just what he needed; another person to take Gibbs' side.

"Not my fault he can't fight Duck." Gibbs says although he is clearly suppressing a smile.

"Well, that is debatable, but I have very important news for you, if you would follow me." Ducky says.

As they walk out of the lab Tony turns around and childishly sticks his tongue out at Abby, only to get a swift headslap from Gibbs. Even over the music Tony can still hear Abby laughing.


End file.
